O is for Oil: The ABCs of Odessa

Project Overview

O is for Oil: The ABCs of Odessa by Adrian Vega is a love letter to West Texas in alphabet form, taking young readers through the places, traditions, industries, and people that make Odessa and the Permian Basin genuinely distinctive. Each letter unlocks something specific about Odessa’s identity — from its deep roots in the oil industry to its art, education, and community life — making the book function as both a learning tool and a cultural keepsake for families with connections to the region.

The illustration challenge was giving each letter’s spread its own visual identity while maintaining a cohesive sense of place across all 26 — the vast West Texas landscape, its particular quality of light and sky, and the warmth of its community needed to feel consistent from A to Z, so that the book read as a portrait of one place rather than a collection of disconnected images.

Role

The illustration challenge was giving each letter’s spread its own visual identity while maintaining a cohesive sense of place across all 26. The vast West Texas landscape, its particular quality of light and sky, and the warmth of its community needed to feel consistent from A to Z, so the book read as a portrait of one place rather than a collection of disconnected images.

Full illustration across 26 alphabet spreads covered West Texas landscape and environment illustration, community and industry scene design, visual cohesion across a multi-spread alphabet format, and print-ready file preparation for Mascot Books.

Process

Every project follows this same structured path, so you always know where we are and what comes next. You review and approve at the sketch stage and the line art stage — nothing moves to color until you’re happy. By the time the final spread is rendered, there are no surprises.